Fr Ken’s message to the faithful of Tasmania: ‘It’s ours to lose’
By Catherine Sheehan
According to Fr Ken Geraci CPM, the newly consecrated Shrine of Our Lady of Victories in Lutana is a place of special graces, where, if the faithful respond, prayers will be answered, miracles will take place, and the faith in Tasmania will explode.
“It’s ours to lose,” he said. “God is extending his hand out to us through the Shrine… through the Eucharist.
“The value of this shrine, this can change the current of faith in Tasmania,” Fr Ken added.
“God has put a special set of graces on Our Lady of Victories [Shrine]… walking in there, there’s a peace there. There’s something that draws you into prayer. There is the presence of God that is almost palpable. The value of the Shrine to the faith community is, dare I say, priceless?”
Fr Ken said he believed the Shrine would come to be considered “a great part” of Archbishop Julian Porteous’ legacy to the Archdiocese.
“If the people of Tasmania respond, if the faithful here come and pray and tell other people to go and pray there, they will see miracle upon miracle.”
Fr Ken, of the Fathers of Mercy based in Kentucky USA, led a mission at the Shrine in Lutana at the end of September. This was his third visit to Tasmania, having run missions here in 2017 and 2019.
The theme of this year’s mission was ‘The Eucharist: Our Source of Victory in Spiritual Warfare’. Held over three nights, Fr Ken’s talks were well attended, particularly the final session which included Mass and a healing service when the church was overflowing. During each of his talks the sacrament of Confession was made available and there was Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Rector of the Shrine, Fr Suresh Sesusion, said the mission had proved fruitful.
“I think the mission was very fruitful in many ways,” Fr Suresh said. “There were so many happy faces and many expressions of appreciation from many people.
“The Shrine was packed with people on the last evening of the mission! Fr Ken preached on the importance of Christian forgiveness at the Mass on the last day and finished the evening with a healing service.
“It was quite moving and was a great opportunity for everyone present to be healed, renewed and reinvigorated through closeness to the Eucharistic Lord.”
Eleanor Griffiths from Austin’s Ferry said the mission had provided her with “much strength and comfort”.
“The three-day mission of Fr Ken opened our awareness to Spiritual Warfare and the vital role the Eucharist plays in our spiritual battle against evil, especially sin and devil,” she said.
“Fr Ken spoke about the closeness of Jesus present in the Eucharist and that He is the source of our strength in every battle, as well as the importance of the powerful sacramentals such as the Divine Mercy chaplet and the Rosary.”
Bridget Low from the Cathedral Parish said she attended the mission because she had experienced a profound deepening of her faith after Fr Ken prayed over her during his 2017 mission in Riverside.
“In that moment I felt the warmth and power of what I later came to realise was the Holy Spirit, in a way I’d never experienced before,” she said. “It was physical and real, as if I was being embraced by God Himself.
“As Fr Ken moved on to pray over the other parishioners, I experienced this vision of Fr Ken as Jesus, in ‘persona Christi’, offering them, their lives, struggles, joys and sorrows all up to God the Father. It was such a powerful moment and experience that has stuck with me since.”
She said attending this year’s mission felt like coming “full circle”.
“Going back to listen to him again, this time at peace in my life, I was so excited to share with him how the seed of faith he had planted in the heart of a lukewarm young woman, who had no idea of the depth and richness of the faith and God’s love for her, had grown and how her life was changed because of his witness.”
A re-vert to the Catholic faith, Fr Ken was born into a “culturally Catholic” family in Amherst, Ohio, later moving to Texas, and had become an agnostic by the time he finished high school.
“I was very scientific in my thinking,” he said. “I thought if science was true, how could God exist?”
After completing a business degree he was recruited by a technology company to conduct market research on MP3 players, eBooks and DVR technology. He went on to help develop a new software company, an achievement which he said gave him an ego “the size of Hobart”.
“I was working with some of the smartest people in the world,” Fr Ken said.
His boss, a devout Catholic, challenged him one day about his lack of belief in God and his somewhat dissipated lifestyle, inviting him to attend Mass and leading him to reconsider religion and Christianity.
During the stock market collapse in 2002, his software company worth 4.5 million dollars sold for 2.5 million and he suddenly found himself without work. It was during this time that he began to earnestly pray to God.
After exploring other religions and spending some time as an Evangelical Christian, he became convinced of the truth of Catholicism. He was particularly impressed by its consistency with God’s covenants and his presence with his chosen people in the Old Testament, evidenced by his “universal presence” in the Eucharist.
Fr Ken had returned to practising his Catholic faith by his mid-twenties and eventually discerned a vocation to the priesthood.
Attracted to the Fathers of Mercy because of their focus on the sacrament of Confession and preaching, he joined them in 2006 and was ordained a priest in 2012.
Fr Ken said he loved visiting Tasmania and hoped to return soon.
“I just love the people, and there is such a vibrant spirit here,” he said.
He said Tasmania was ready for a re-awakening of the Catholic faith, particularly through the graces available at the Shrine in Lutana.
“I think Tasmania is ripe for that explosion because there are so many good people here who are just hungry for God, and they want God for their children. They want faith. They want what’s right.
“I am convinced that there are going to be such amazing, miraculous graces coming from the Shrine that it could fundamentally impact Tasmania… It could radically change things, but people have to avail themselves of those graces.”
Fr Ken’s talks are able to be viewed below via our YouTube channel: